You are still in my dreams 

Curator: Standing before us is a striking oil painting called "You are still in my dreams" by Cathrine Edlinger-Kunze. There’s no date assigned, which adds to the piece’s timelessness, I think. Editor: Timeless is a good word! My first impression is… warmth, maybe tinged with melancholy. The ochre and burnt orange tones give it a sun-drenched feel, but the figures' expressions seem a little distant, a little lost. Curator: The figures definitely evoke that feeling. Edlinger-Kunze has used an impasto technique here; you can really see the texture and layers of paint, building up the figures and giving them a kind of ethereal quality, don’t you think? Editor: Absolutely! Impasto adds a physical weight, yet the hazy rendering keeps them elusive, almost like memories fading at the edges. It's intriguing how she juxtaposes the somewhat classical posing of the women with this looser, almost abstract expressionist handling of the paint. The nude subject and a monkey adds certain symbolic complexity... Curator: Symbolically, what comes to mind for you? Is it classical myth of nude female figures that seem like some reminiscence from antique iconography of goddesses with an implicit link to primal nature? Editor: Partly. I’m reminded of that ancient link, of course. The monkey often represents primal instinct, but in Victorian painting it’s often associated with a caged or mimicked humanity…a representation of darker parts of our desires. With female figuration in this work there seems an intention to suggest internal struggle between raw, intuitive feelings versus constrained social position. Curator: I see what you mean, that juxtaposition is compelling. Perhaps Edlinger-Kunze is hinting at the way our memories, like dreams, are a melting pot of these often conflicting forces: instinct, intellect, desire, societal expectations. It makes it all feel so immediate and raw. Editor: Yes! Raw is the right word. Dreams aren’t neat, linear narratives; they are fragments and feelings. It's fascinating how artists can evoke those spaces in us through this kind of complex use of symbols and form. "You Are Still in My Dreams"...that’s not a simple statement after all, huh? Curator: Not at all! I keep coming back to that contrast of styles: Classical, Figurative with something far more expressionist that pushes emotional response in this work… Editor: Which keeps inviting us deeper, even after the visit. Beautiful, thought provoking artwork, a work that I certainly will dream about, I guess!